An online site for the western collector of antique bottles, gold rush collectables and early western material culture

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Some Day.....

At first I thought we had a broken Wonsers, then about ten minutes later I pulled out part of the embossing was was in shock. Needless to say, the rest of the privy was dug with an immense adreneline rush. Can it get any more rare than this? As far as I know there is one damaged example known, and two seperate reports of broken ones dug, one in Southern California, and one in the Valley. Does anyone know what colors the other pieces were ?

Tom Quinn does indeed have the only completely intact example of this bottle. H. Landis did indeed trademark this product in 1873. It is very exciting to see another example having been dug! Very little information is known about this product. A picture of Tom Quinn's example can be seen in Wichmann's Bitters Book. Warren

as Warren stated Casper Landis had no known partner in his Tonic endeavors. I did extensive research on this bottle after pieces were dug in a local town. IIRC, it was discussions with Jeff W. that led to the supposition that The "H" simply could have been "Himself" like Warren alluded to. Regardless, it is one freakishly rare bottle and was probably blown in one or two small orders in 1873. Landis was listed as a proprietor of "Medicinal Baths" at 51 Minna St. in 1873, but by the next year it was "Tan Baths" at the same location. By 1878 he ran "Tan and Herb Baths" at 51 and 53 Minna. in 1880 he had lost the 51 address but still had "Tan Baths" at 53 Minna.

Landis was not ever listed as the proprietor of any Tonic, but remained at 51 and/or 53 Minna for several years. Hopefully, a few more examples of Landis's very unusual bottle will tun up in future digs.

Ill wager that you are spot on, Tom, probably a VERY short lived production. You never know, though, stranger things have happened with Western bottles and a mint example could "appear" at any time. Of course, such a pit would have to contain at least one "Old Figment" to compliment the Circassion.

I don't know if I will have the "oomph" to make the drive up to Anderson for just a few hours. Chemo this morning, so may be at a low point tomorrow. Heck, who knows, I just might go ahead and do it. An "infusion" of glass and old friends could just be the ticket.